Reading and Language Commons^™

Read Fest: Academic Library Programming For Pre-Kindergarten Students, Laura Wright, Michael Holt

The Southeastern Librarian

Three factors influence an academic library’s decision to interact with the community; a need expressed from the community, the mission of the library, and a response to a specific problem (Schneider 2003). Odum Library at Valdosta State University (VSU) developed Read Fest in response to a perceived need in the community and in support of the library’s mission. Historically, South Georgia has had a high illiteracy rate; according to the National Center for Education Statistics most recent (2003) estimates, an average 22% of residents in Lowndes County and its neighbors lack basic literacy skills. Read Fest is an opportunity for …

Essay Writing Instructional Lexicon And Semantic Confusion, Amir Kalan

English Faculty Publications

“Introduction,” “body,” and “conclusion” are the most accessible words in the instructional lexicon for ESL writing teachers when they want to describe the structure of a typical five-paragraph persuasive or argumentative essay or its shorter variations for standardized tests such as TOEFL and IELTS. They are frequently employed to refer to the three tiers of the hamburger essay in textbooks, on classroom boards, and in YouTube tutorials.

Not surprisingly, English learners also might give you the same words if asked what the main components of an essay are. Like ESL teachers, students usually use the same terms or their equivalents …

Can Esl Teachers Teach Reading Metacognitive Strategies?, Adil Bentahar

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Metacognitive knowledge has been linked to use of metacognitive strategies and effectiveness in reading (e.g., Flavell, 1979). In the present research, I evaluated whether teaching three metacognitive strategies (planning, monitoring, and evaluating) would (a) improve English as a Second Language (ESL) students’ metacognitive knowledge, which in turn would (b) improve their comprehension. Eight non-English speaking students completed the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategy Inventory (MARSI) (Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002) and a reading test at the beginning of a reading-writing course and again at the end of the course. The results revealed an increase from pretest to posttest in all three …

Early Literacy Matters, Lisa Van Thiel, Institute For Community Inclusion, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Early Literacy Matters (ELM) is a partnership between the University of Massachusetts Boston, Lynn Public Schools, and the Gregg Neighborhood House. Our goal is to create 8 preschool centers of excellence impacting 300 children per year identified as “at risk for academic failure.” ELM has transformed 17 classrooms that serve children speaking over 41 languages. 75% of ELM children speak a first language other than English or have limited English proficiency, and 16% receive special education services. ELM offers research-based curricula, professional development, and community/family involvement with intentional instruction proven to enrich children’s learning experiences. We offer professional development combined …

The Impact Of Teacher Attitudes And Perceptions Of Direct Instruction On Student Achievement In Reading, Sharon Collum

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2004), 37% of America's fourth graders are not reading at grade level. This statistic has remained unchanged for over a decade (NCES, 2004). Findings from multiple studies indicate more research on successfully implementing reading interventions is needed (Begeny & Silber, 2006; Begeny, Krouse, Ross, & Mitchell, 2009). Barnyak and Paquette (2010) suggested that although teachers learn new methods, they return to the strategies they are most comfortable using. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to determine if teacher attitudes and perceptions of direct instruction impacted student achievement in reading. Elementary …

Undergraduate Students' Self-Reported Use Of Mathematics Textbooks, Aaron Weinberg, Emilie Wiesner, Bret Benesh, Timothy Boester

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Textbooks play an important role in undergraduate mathematics courses and have the potential to impact student learning. However, there have been few studies that describe students' textbook use in detail. In this study, 1156 undergraduate students in introductory mathematics classes were surveyed, and asked to describe how they used their textbook. The results indicate that students tend to use examples, instead of the expository text, to build their mathematical understanding, which instructors may view as problematic. This way of using the textbook may be the result of the textbook structure itself, as well as students' beliefs about reading and the …

More Than Just Nonsense Verse?: The Language Of Dr. Seuss And Children's Literacy, Nicole Hewes

Senior Scholar Papers

In this Senior Scholars project I wanted to demonstrate that Dr. Seuss books are much more than just nonsense verse. For the first part of my project, I familiarized myself with all of his texts and scrutinized his use of language in a textual analysis. By scrutinizing Geisel’s use of language and wordplay, I hoped to isolate some characteristics that make a Seuss book different from other types of stories and texts. The second part of my project was an empirical study that tested what influence reading a real Seuss text versus a fake Seuss text has on students’ performance …

A Special Dvd Homework Project To Assist At-Risk Students With Reading Practice, Mary Kathleen Kronemeyer

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project was designed to give students and their family's additional support in language arts through a technologically facilitated means to review the skills and strategies that are covered in one theme of the first grade Houghton Mifflin Reading Program. This project provides this additional instruction via a DVD which models ways for the students to practice spelling, practice sight words, reinforce the grammar shills of nouns and verbs and review definitions of vocabulary words.

Learning Through Literature Versus Scripted Lessons, Leticia Aviles-Parsons

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project was to create a guide for planning literature lessons connected to the state mandated curriculum, including today's standards for a fifth grade class and the recently adapted Common Core Standards in Language Arts. This project explains the reading comprehension problems that students in elementary school are facing, especially English learners.

Bibliography Of Central European Women's Holocaust Life Writing In English, Louise O. Vasvári

CLCWeb Library

No abstract provided.

Bibliography For The Study Of Text And Image In Modern European Culture, Natasha Grigorian

CLCWeb Library

No abstract provided.

Linguistic Discrimination In Writing Assessment: How Raters React To African American “Errors,” Esl Errors, And Standard English Errors On A State-Mandated Writing Exam, David M. Johnson, Lewis Vanbrackle

Faculty Articles

Raters of Georgia''s (USA) state-mandated college-level writing exam, which is intended to ensure a minimal university-level writing competency, are trained to grade holistically when assessing these exams. A guiding principle in holistic grading is to not focus exclusively on any one aspect of writing but rather to give equal weight to style, vocabulary, mechanics, content, and development. This study details how raters react to “errors” typical of African American English writers, of ESL writers, and of standard American English writers. Using a log-linear model to generate odds ratios for comparison of essays with these error types, results indicate linguistic discrimination …

Legal Discourse, Conceptual Metaphors, And Basic Writing Programming: A Study Of Ayers V. Fordice, Joyce Olewski Inman

Dissertations

In what ways does legal discourse influence our perceptions of students labeled as basic writers and these students’ perceptions of themselves? How does standards-based discourse affect student writers’ abilities to define themselves in academe? This dissertation involves an examination of legal and public discourse surrounding Ayers v. Fordice, one of the most prominent desegregation cases in higher education, in an attempt to answer these questions. Its intent is to explore how conceptual metaphors prevalent in these discourses affect our understandings of basic writing programming in the state of Mississippi but also in the field of composition more globally.

My …

The Influence Of Peer Tutors And Technology-Actuated Reading Instruction Process On Third-Grade Students' Self-Perceptions As Readers: A Multiple Case Study, Brenda Shill Daw

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Driven by Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory (1986), my study investigated the self-perceptions and interactions of seven underperforming, third-grade readers while using Technology-Actuated Reading Instruction (TARI). Partnered with same-age peer tutors, readers used digital tools to listen to, read/record, and playback oral reading passages. They practiced, peer- or self-edited, and selected their best reading products as part of the iterative process. As reading is a complex cognitive skill (Reinking, 2005), TARI incorporated higher cognitive learning activities via a synthesis of Gagné's (1985) nine conditions of learning and the Four-Component Instructional Design Model (van Merriënboer & Kester, 2005).

Much of the current …

Authorial Intent In The Composition Classroom, Ian Barnard

English Faculty Articles and Research

This article examines the disjunction between, on the one hand, critical theory’s critique of the privileging of authorial intent in protocols of textual interpretation, and, on the other hand, continued obeisance to authorial intent in composition textbooks and pedagogy. By unpacking the implications of this disjunction, I show the limitations that the reification of authorial intent creates for composition pedagogy and student writing. I conclude by suggesting how bracketing authorial intent in the composition classroom might enhance composition pedagogy and student writing, while also challenging fundamental epistemologies of the field.

Teachers And Language Learning In Primary Schools: The Acquisition Of Additional Languages In The Early Years, Anna Dillon

Doctoral

This study set out to explore teachers’ attitudes towards home language maintenance among children acquiring English and Irish as additional languages in the early years of primary school and to explore the experiences of mainstream teachers who are working with these children. The study includes a consideration of the pedagogical issues involved in teaching young English and Irish language learners and an examination of the support that the whole school community provides for the teachers and the children. Data were gathered using a mixed methods approach, bearing in mind the rights of children to use their home languages and learn …

Effects Of Booktalking In Regards To A Students' Motivation To Read, Melissa Smith

Graduate Theses

This study investigates whether the use of booktalking presentations enhanced adolescent students’ motivation when conducted in a sixth grade departmentalized classroom setting. This research study was ongoing for one semester and conducted at a private school in the Permian Basin. Reading builds literacy. As literacy expands, so does language and conceptual development until reading becomes the instrument of empowerment and opportunity. An appreciation for books, along with a desire to read should be supported by teachers (Blass, 2002). The results from this qualitative study indicated that booktalking is an effective motivation tactic for struggling, reluctant and motivated readers.

Investigating The Possibility Of A Standard Of Care For Professionals Who Teach Reading, John Michael Mccord

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) has consistently shown that approximately 40% of American students cannot read at grade level. In fact, most of these 40% of students read considerably below grade level. Unfortunately, these results have remained consistent in spite of reports such as the Nation at Risk in 1983 that first alerted everyone to the severity of the problem and provided remedies on how it could be remedied. The Nation at Risk Report was the impetus for a plethora of educational reform enactments at the federal level such as George H. Walker Bush’s education summit in 1989, …

The Effects Of School Home Communication And Reading Fluency In Kindergarten Children, Farjana Khan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many researchers have documented that reading fluency scores continue to be a national concern for the United States and have suggested that early reading failure has long-term detrimental effects on society. However, much less is known regarding specific interventions that could reduce this concern. Investigators in other studies have suggested the development of early school-home partnerships to improve reading scores. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a systematic school-home intervention to improve reading fluency scores. Following the theoretical foundation of emergent literacy theory and Joyce Epstein's framework, the research question focuses on the association …

Teachers' Perceptions Of Reading Achievement For Kindergarten-3 Rd Grade Students Of Low Socioeconomic Status, Vicki L. Curtis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The three tiered reading model and the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) are two initiatives being used to identify struggling readers of low socioeconomic status. While there is abundant information with statistical reports from various researchers, there is little research available as to what educators implementing DIBELS in the school environment perceive about the instrument, what it measures and what it fails to take into account. It is important to examine all aspects and views of an initiative being widely used across the nation to close the reading achievement gap. Educators working with students of low socioeconomic …

A Survey Of Fifth Grade Writing Teachers On Their Instructional Writing Practices, Susan Margaret Muehl Egloff

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Writing is an essential skill that students need in order to become successful in school and beyond. Within a school district in the southwestern United States, student writing scores were not at proficient levels, and students were not prepared for graduation or employment. The purpose of this quasi-experimental research study was to compare the distribution of student writing achievement scores for 5th grade teachers who used 7 or more of the 11 components of effective writing instruction outlined by Graham and Perin to those teachers who implemented 6 or fewer of these components. In this study, a survey was given …

A Case Study Of Differentiated Instruction In Upper Elementary Mathematics And Reading Classrooms, Laponya Alexandria Burris

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Elementary students in one school have shown a decline in proficient and advanced performance on statewide assessments. This decline increased for reading and mathematics achievement from 2003--2008, especially for disabled and minority students in grades 3--5. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to determine the extent to which differentiated instruction was implemented in instructional practices to increase student academic performance. Vygotsky's theory of constructivism, Bruner's theory of problem solving, and Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences provided the conceptual frameworks for this study. The research questions focused on the instructional strategies and resources used by teachers. Data included interviews, …

The Impact Of Computer-Assisted Sight Word Instruction On The Reading Skills Of Students With Significant Intellectual Disabilities, Colleen Frances Wood-Fields

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

There is a paucity of research identifying instructional methods that promote the reading development of students with significant intellectual disabilities (ID). This research study employed a single subject, multiple baseline design to evaluate the effects of computer-assisted sight word instruction employing constant time delay (CTD) procedures with incidental phonics and comprehension stimuli on the reading skill development of six elementary students with moderate ID and expressive language impairments. Study results suggest that the seven week PowerPoint slide show sight word intervention had very small to moderate intervention effects on receptive sight word identification. However, students learned some incidental letter-sound correspondences …

The Construction Of Reading Identity In Struggling Middle School Readers, Anna Marie Anatriello Bonafide

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Middle school students bring various identities into the classroom including their reading identities, their self concepts concerning their views of themselves as readers. Using identity and psycho-social and socio-cultural theoretical constructs as a foundation, I conducted phenomenological case studies that focused on middle school remedial readers and the means by which their reading identities are constructed within and outside the institution of school. The study investigated in- school factors which impact student reading identities, including interactions with remedial and classroom teachers, as well as out- of- school factors such as family literacy.

Scaffolding English Language Learners' Reading Performance, Lolita D. Mckenzie

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

English language learners (ELLs) spend a majority of their instructional time in mainstream classrooms with mainstream teachers. Reading is an area with which many ELLs are challenged when placed within mainstream classrooms. Scaffolding has been identified as one of the best teaching practices for helping students read. ELL students in a local elementary school were struggling, and school personnel implemented scaffolding in an effort to address student needs. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine how personnel in one diversely populated school employed scaffolding to accommodate ELLs. Vygotsky's social constructivist theory informed the study. Research questions were …

The Effect Of Two Reading Programs On First Grade Students' Reading Fluency, Christy Stewart Bowling

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

School districts struggle to achieve Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in reading in first grade. Nine percent of first grade students at the study site were not meeting state performance standards in the area of language arts. Specifically in the area of fluency, 38% of first grade students were not achieving AYP. Because of the close connection between oral fluency and early reading achievement, first grade students need to be more fluent to attain state standards. Based on LaBerge and Samuels theory of automaticity within reading fluency, the purpose of this study was to identify the impact of the Scholastic Guided …

Comparative Literature: Theory, Method, Application, Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek

CLCWeb Library

Tötösy de Zepetnek, Steven. Comparative Literature: Theory, Method, Application. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1998. ISBN 90-420-0534-3 299 pages, bibliography, index. Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek presents a framework of comparative literature based on a contextual (systemic and empirical) approach for the study of culture and literature and applies the framework in audience studies, film and literature, women's literature, translation studies, new media and scholarship in the humanities and in the analyses of English, French, German, Austrian, Hungarian, Romanian, and English-Canadian modern, contemporary, and ethnic minority texts. Copyright release to the author in 2006.

Literacy And Cultural Assimilation In Rural China: A Report From The Interior, Amanda C.R. Clark

Library Faculty Scholarship

The American Library Association has long been concerned with the promotion of literacy, particularly as it pertains to the equity and global universality of access to information. When libraries focus on the accessibility of information, literacy is understandably an initial step in the process. This essay focuses on challenges to literacy in rural China, and how technology may be improving access to information for many of the inland population.

Skill Versus Will: An Investigation Of A Relationship Between Motivation To Read, Oral Reading Fluency, And Demographics For Third-Grade Elementary Students, Stephanie Lee Embrey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

With the demands of the No Child Left Behind legislation to utilize research-based instructional practices and teach all children to read by the end of third grade, teachers find themselves going beyond teachers' editions and curriculum guides to the research on best reading practices. The purpose of this quantitative nonexperimental cross-sectional correlational study was to examine the strength and direction of the relationship between motivation to read, oral reading fluency, and demographics for third-grade elementary students (N=112). An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to quantitatively analyze archival data to assess the relationship between motivation to read, oral reading fluency, …

A Clinical Practicum Experience To Prepare Teacher Candidates For Classroom Literacy Instruction, Karen C. Waters

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a pervasive reading crisis in the United States. Critics, including policymakers, educators, literacy scholars, and professional educational organizations have openly accused university teacher preparation programs of not preparing candidates to deliver effective reading instruction. This qualitative study used narrative inquiry to explore ways in which teacher candidates' participation in a research-based university clinical practicum contributed to their pedagogical understanding of literacy instruction. Conceptually this study was based on constructivism and the ideas of Dewey, Freire, Vygotsky, and Schon. Data collection included multiple interviews and observations to determine how teacher candidates' participation in clinical practicum affects their assumptions about …